With respect to preamps:

"... no one system is best for reproducing all types of material - at least not for my ears..."


Neil hope you don't mind the partial quote! Well that sucks to hear! I always liked the idea that finding the perfect hardware for extracting and amplifying recorded media was not some holy grail! I thought that the only "weakness" there should be ought to in the source recording/mastering itself. Bring back tone controls, equalizers etc., DSPs, presets, etc. to deal with equipment transitions between types of music :( ?

Comments?

I have tone controls on my amplifiers. Always have done. Always will.

Among other things, they allow me to compensate for shit recordings (briefly, before said recordings get binned) and for poor reception from radio.

I also have balance controls. They're handy too in some situations.

Mono switch is the most used though, noisy FM is much improved.